Music. — Liteeatuke. 79 



usually carried on human backs. Saint Crispin never had 

 the fortitude to do penance in the shoes of Quito, and the 

 huge nails which enter into the hoofs of the quadrupedants 

 remind one of the Cyclops. There are not six carts in Qui- 

 to. If you wish to move, you must coax a dozen Indians, 

 who care little for your money or your threats. Horse- 

 hire, peonage, and most mechanical work must be paid for 

 in advance. Carriages — antique veliicles, of which there 

 are two or three in the city — are drawn by mules. The 

 first was introduced by Sefior Aguirre so late as 1859, and 

 he was fined by the police for the privilege of riding in it. 

 Quitonians ai-e not a traveling people, and they are pain- 

 fully ignorant of their own country. The most enterpris- 

 ing merchant ignores every thing but Quito and the road 

 to Guayaquil. 



"We can not praise the musical talent of Spanish Amer- 

 icans; their intonation is too nasal, while in their jumpings 

 and chirpings they take after the grasshopper, A resident 

 Englishman, who has traveled in many countries, and sings 

 the songs of nearly every nation, told us he could not re- 

 member one of Ecuador. Pianos they have brought over 

 the moimtains at great expense ; but they are more at home 

 with the guitar. The embroidery and lace, wood carving 

 and portrait painting of Quito, are commendable ; but the 

 grandeur of the Andes, like the beauty of the Alps, was 

 never sketched by a native. 



Ecuador boasts of one University and eleven colleges ; 

 yet the people are not educated. Litei-ature, science, phi- 

 losophy, law, medicine, are only names. jS^early all young 

 gentlemen are doctors of something; but their education 

 is strangely dwarfed, defective, and distorted ; and their 

 knowledge, such as they have, is without power, as it is 

 without practice. The University of Quito has two hun- 

 dred and eighty-five students, of whom thirty-five are pur- 



